My Holy Vows Can Go To Hell!
by TheNuttyConfessor
Summary: First off, I wanted to make some sense out of all the vague things that Kross says to me when I play Rune Factory Frontier. Secondly, I wanted to give Lara a break from her constant mothering. I hope you like this. I will write chapter 2 if you request it


Chapter 1

Lara was in the church's hospital wing, minding the front desk, when something unpredictable happened. Kross stumbled through the door, gasping, carrying two unconscious men- Brodik and Raguna. Lara's training as a nurse taught her to act quickly. Without saying a word, she jumped up from her chair and promptly had both injured men bandaged and bedridden. After administering the necessary salves and painkillers, she turned to Kross.

"Kross… what on Earth has happened?"

"Brodik was building a golem… in secret. He sent it after Raguna, but he had never befriended it, so… both men were badly injured."

Lara knew Kross better than anyone in the village. And even she hardly knew anything about him. He came to the church frequently, and he donated ridiculously large sums of money to charities, claiming that he needed very little money to live on. He never spoke of his past and he lived a quiet, solitary lifestyle. He had never really had any friends until Raguna moved in to the village. Lara was intrigued by him- she constantly thought up theories about why such a young man would live such a sad life. He must have been in a lot of pain, but she knew better than to bother him with it. All she knew was that he was a good person. As her theories about him grew more and more bizarre, she found herself praying for forgiveness more and more often. How could she let herself think such things, when she scolded the other villagers for making up rumors about him?

Her train of thought was interrupted by a gasp from Kross, who collapsed on the floor. He might have a strange kind of superhuman strength to defeat a golem and carry two grown men to the hospital, but even that strength had its limits.

Here was where Lara encountered a problem- only two hospital beds, both of them occupied. But again, she didn't hesitate. She heaved Kross onto the rolling stretcher and rolled him onto her own bed. She knew that he had just exhausted himself, so she wiped his face clean and gently wrapped him in quilts. How odd, that she had never noticed his hair before. For a farmer and carpenter, his long raven-black hair was shiny, soft, and well cared-for. On a strange whim, she fetched a brush from her nightstand and began to run it through his hair. She fell into a kind of trance as she marveled at his perfect pale skin, his sleeping face, and silky tresses, moving the brush up and down hypnotically. But then she stopped herself. Were impure thoughts penetrating her defenses? She quickly kneeled to the floor and began to pray for forgiveness. A sister in training should never falter, and a nurse should never FONDLE her patients! When her prayers were done, she sat down in the armchair across the room, firmly reprimanding herself.

Lara stayed awake all night, watching over her three patients. At one point, late in the night, Kross started to thrash about, as if having a nightmare. Then, as quickly as the thrashing had begun, it stopped. The quilts were thrown off the bed, strewn about the room, and Kross lay on his stomach on the bed, sleeping soundly once again. Lara moved to stand next to him, and noticed a large burnt hole in his shirt, likely where the golem had shot at him. Lara pulled a pair of scissors out of her apron, cut the shirt, and peeled it from his body, checking for blood or burns. None. Only a large, fresh scar where the hole in his shirt had been! But that wasn't the only thing. Right in the center of his back, where his spine should have just been visible through the skin, was a neat column of tiny, dark purple spikes. The skin around the base of each spike was red and raw, as if they had… _grown_ out of his spine. And quite recently, too!

Lara gasped. But, rather than being horrified, she was concerned. She got some soothing palm from the medicine cabinet and began to apply it over the irritated skin. Just as she was reaching to tend to the last spike, his pale hand snapped out to catch her arm. His fingers felt uncomfortably hot against the underside of her arm.

Kross rolled over onto his back, wincing. "I'm so sorry you had to see this," He whispered. Despite the shock of the situation, Lara couldn't help but appreciate the musculature of his chest, which was endowed with a healthy crop of curly black hairs. Impure thoughts again! Lara wanted to scream. Her wandering brain returned to the subject at hand.

"Do they hurt terribly?" Lara asked him.

"Not as badly as my pride," Kross replied, "I suppose…. I have some explaining to do."

Lara nodded slowly, carefully keeping her expression neutral. She was about to learn something very interesting, and she didn't want to spoil the moment.

And that was when Kross shared his heartbreaking story. He had been born in a large city where magic was used widely. At the age of 18, he joined the army in hopes of seeing the world and helping people. But the army wasn't at all as he imagined it. The government kept the soldiers in magical research facilities, where wizards tried to find ways to make the perfect soldier… by infusing the human soldiers with monster abilities. Kross was forced to drink a potion that gave him the strength and reflexes of a blood panther, as well as quickened healing capabilities (explaining the fresh scar on his back). At first it had been wonderful to have such strength and speed in battle, but Kross soon learned that the smell of blood awoke the instincts of the panther, making him crazed, making spikes grow from his back. He became sickened with himself, and decided to run away to live a quiet life on a farm, where no blood was likely to be shed. He also began to feel like his being fused with a monster made him an abomination. To atone for this, he sentenced himself to be a monk-like recluse, visiting the church often and donating all his money to charity.

"And that is why I don't deserve happiness, or your kindness… The smell of Raguna and Brodik's blood made me insane for a few moments… I demolished that golem… it might not have been returned to the first forest, being killed that way… I hate…"

Lara interrupted him. "Kross, you may have some monster-like aspects physically… but your soul is entirely human. And the monster parts of you, you have only been using them to perform good deeds! You should not be so severe with yourself. Everyone deserves to be happy. Everyone deserves to be loved."

Kross' face softened. "Thank you, Lara. But it isn't meant to be. Who could even stand to look at me? I… am hideous."

Lara felt a blush creep up her neck, the warm rush of blood making her head feel like a giant light bulb. She had become a nun because she didn't think she would ever find a man who didn't make her cringe in disgust. But Kross… his body was certainly FAR from hideous.

_Dear spirits, preserve me! _Lara screamed at herself, _Is this really happening?_

"I can smell your lust," said Kross. His eyes had suddenly turned dark purple, and he flashed her a toothy smile, showing a set of cat-like fangs.

"KROSS!" Lara yelped.

"No more words," he said as he got up from bed to shut (and lock) the door.

An instant later, he was kissing her passionately. She twined her hands through his silky hair, smelling his musk, as his hands roamed over her (still clothed) body. Was she under a spell? How had this happened? But all concerns for her patients, for her religion, flew out the window as she became enveloped in lust. Her whole body felt hot, Kross was hotter, and that oh-so-forbidden spot between her legs was tingling impatiently…

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
